lled out to Tydomin.

She quickly looked around.

"Come here. It has just occurred to me"--he laughed--"why should I be
carrying this corpse--and why should I be following you at all? What
surprises me is, why this has never struck me before."

She at once came back to him. "I suppose you're tired, Maskull. Let us
sit down. Perhaps you have come a long way this morning?"

"Oh, it's not tiredness, but a sudden gleam of sense. Do you know of
any reason why I should be acting as your porter?" He laughed again, but
nevertheless sat down on the ground beside her.

Tydomin neither looked at him nor answered. Her head was half bent, so
as to face the northern sky, where the Alppain light was still glowing.
Maskull followed her gaze, and also watched the glow for a moment or two
in silence.

"Why don't you speak?" he asked at last.

"What does that light suggest to you, Maskull?"

"I'm not speaking of that light."

"Doesn't it suggest anything at all?"

"Perhaps it doesn't. What does it matter?"

"Not sacrifice?"

Maskull grew sullen again. "Sacrifice of what? What do you mean?"

"Hasn't it entered your head yet," said Tydomin, looking straight in
front of her, and speaking in her delicate, hard manner, "that this
adventure of yours will scarcely come to an end until you have made some
sort of sacrifice?"

He returned no answer, and she said nothing more. In a few minutes' time
Maskull got up of his own accord, and irreverently, and almost angrily,
threw Crimtyphon's corpse over his shoulder again.

"How far do we have to go?" he asked in a surly tone.

"An hour's walk."

"Lead on."

"Still, this isn't the sacrifice I mean," said Tydomin quietly, as she
went on in front.

Almost immediately they reached more difficult ground. They had to pass
from peak to peak, as from island to island. In some cases they were
able to stride or jump across, but in others they had to make use of
rude bridges of fallen timber. It appeared to be a frequented path.
Underneath were the black, impenetrable abysses--on the surface were the
glaring sunshine, the gay, painted rocks, the chaotic tangle of strange
plants. There were countless reptiles and insects. The latter were
thicker built than those of Earth--consequently still more disgusting,
and some of them were of enormous size. One monstrous insect, as large
as a horse, stood right in the centre of their path without budging. It
was armour-plated, had jaws like scimitar